Author: Robert Greenberger

Spider-Man unknowingly wearing an alien symbiote was perhaps the most interesting thing to come out of Secret Wars but it also thrust the character into a decade of increasingly unfortunate stories as Venom inexplicably proved a popular monster, giving us the even worse Carnage. As a result of the commercial interest in the character, Sony insisted the third film from Sam Raimi include Venom but when the director is told to include something he’s disinterested in, the results are rarely good. With a renewed Spider-Man franchise, Sony is back to milking the cow and offers up a Venom solo film that lacks everything that made Spider-Man: Homecoming so welcome.

The violent, messy film has arrived on disc from Sony Home Entertainment including the popular 4K, Blu-ray, and Digital HD combo pack. Ruben Fleischer directed, which makes sense given the tonally similar Zombieland with a script by Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, and Kelly Marcel (never a good sign).

We get journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), now relocated from New York in the comics to San Francisco, where his failure to interview billionaire Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) somehow costs him both his job and his relationship with fiancé DA Anne Weying (Michelle Williams). Instead, he stumbles across an even bigger story: alien symbiotes are on Earth and one bonds with Brock, turning him into Venom.

Brock has to warn the world of the threat while Venom has other ideas until they come to a meeting of the minds. Meantime, there are symbiotes aplenty, chaos, mayhem, and wanton destruction by the ton.

The only reason any of this works is Hardy, who never gives less than 100 percent to a role and while he’s less interesting here than he was as Mad Max, at least gives us a Venom to care about. He pairs okay with Williams who took on a superhero franchise to push herself as a commercial actress and should have considered other roles despite her desire to be a she-Venom in the inevitable sequel. Speaking of which, we sadly get foreshadowing of Carnage (Woody Harrelson, who should know better) in the mid-credits sequence.

The 4K disc shines with great detail for Venom, thanks to superb SFX and you get to enjoy every byte of mucous and slime. The film overall is adequate with solid Dolby Vision (making San Francisco shine) in the HDR transfer at a 2.39:1 aspect ratio; and Dolby Atmos and core 7.1 Dolby TrueHD Master Audio tracks, but not overly superior to the Blu-ray disc (for the budget conscious).

The Blu-ray contains the various special features, pretty much by-the-numbers behind-the-scenes material. The best part is “Venom Mode”, essentially a pop up trivia track when watching the film a third or fourth time.

That said, “From Symbiote to Screen” does have 20 minutes of fan love thanks to the involvement of Kevin Smith, so you can get much of the background you’d want. Then there’s “The Anti Hero” (10:00), “Lethal Protector in Action” (9:00) focusing on stunts; “Venom Vision” (0:00) with Fleischer discussing directing the movie; “Designing Venom” (5:00); “Symbiote Secrets” all about the comic book Easter Eggs; two music videos: “Venom” by Eminem and “Sunflower” by Post Malone, Swae Lee (from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse); and four deleted and extended scenes (the best being the mid-credits sequence). For those who purchase the iTunes version of the movie, you get the exclusive bonus “Friends of Venom” (7:00) with Smith talking about the supporting players.

The 4K disc does have one neat bonus: the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse post-credits scene.

You have to love Venom or Hardy or be a collector to genuinely want this on your shelf. Otherwise, it’s a fairly standard comic book adaptation at a time when the stakes have been raised considerably.

When it ran on CBS, Mission: Impossible had zero internal continuity. Missions came and went, agents were tortured, battered, and bruised and the next week they’d be hale and hardy, ready for the next assignment.

Since the film franchise began in 1996, the movies have gone in the opposite direction with film to film connectivity, just enough to show the films have consequence but work on their own so you don’t need one of DK Publishing’s patented guidebooks to understand what’s happening.

You’d almost think there was some grand plan and strategy ala Marvel for these films since everything builds to a head in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, out today on disc from Paramount Home Entertainment.

Recently, the first film, from director Brian DePalma has been making the rounds on cable and I was reminded of how much larger and richer the cast of agents were. Since then, there has been precious little mention made of operatives other than the core cast that seemingly winnows per film. There was the pre-credit nod to the past with Keri Russell in M: I III.

So, here we are again with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), the only holdovers from the beginning, with the addition of Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), who interestingly joined in M:I III. That’s it. The IMF apparently has faced attrition and budget cuts. Cruise and Director/Producer/Screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie have stitched together elements from all the films to create a taut, suspenseful and ultimately very satisfying sixth installment in the series, which has yet to run out of steam.

We pick up with the remnants of Solomon Lane’s (Sean Harris) The Syndicate (a wink to the anonymous organization Jim Phelps battled almost weekly on television), The Apostles. They are searching for three plutonium cores and when the first gambit fails, are stuck with political shenanigans between the CIA in the form of Erica Sloane (Angela Bassett) and the IMF, now championed by Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin). With trust absent, she insists August Walker (Henry Cavill) work with Hunt’s team.

As they seek the cores, the encounter “The White Widow” (Vanessa Kirby), a black market arms dealer and the returning Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who finds herself allied with and in competition with Hunt. There are the usual death-defying car chases, running and jumping, and mass mayhem but leavened with some deadpan humor.

We see Hunt and Walker fight in the trailers so we’re not sure if the CIA shadow is a good guy or turncoat but his stiff, diffident performance pretty much gives things away. Cavill can be easy on the eyes, but he really needs to loosen up to remain interesting on screen.

Everything builds up to Lane threatening more than the world; he’s targeted Julia (Michelle Monaghan), Hunt’s one true love. The climax in Kashmir may be drawn out, but is pulse-pounding and emotional. The status quo has been modified for future installments and viewers will be fine with a repeated viewing at home.

The film is available in the usual formats including the 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD package. As one would expect, the 2160p resolution displays a native 4K image in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio, although there are exceptions with two opening sequences having been shot in a 1.90:1 IMAX ratio. Given the scenery, notably the Kashmir section, we are treated to fine detail, clarity, and sharpness, superior to the Blu-ray. The Dolby Atmos audio track is strong and pairs well with the 4K disc.

A glossy, full color booklet titled Stunts: Raiding the Bar is included inside the embossed case, featuring slight commentary regarding several key sequences.

The 4K disc comes with Audio Commentary: in three flavors: McQuarrie and Cruise, McQuarrie and Editor Eddie Hamilton, and Composer Lorne Balfe. As is increasingly common on 4K releases, we’re treated to an Isolated Score in Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

The Blu-ray disc with the feature carries the same bonus features but then there’s a second Blu-ray disc with an additional hour’s worth of goodness. The majority of the disc is filled with the seven-part Behind the Fallout (53:32) which exhaustively covers the film’s development and production. Broken down, these include Light the Fuse (11:10), giving you an overview; Top of the World (10:48), all about the HALO jump sequence; The Big Swing: Deleted Scene Breakdown (3:44);  Rendezvous in Paris (7:21); The Fall (5:57), all about how a man falls from a helicopter and lives to tell the tale; and The Hunt Is On (11:08), a spotlight on the helicopter chase; Cliffside Clash (4:02).

Rounding out the disc are Deleted Scenes Montage (3:41), complete with optional commentary by McQuarrie and Hamilton; Foot Chase Musical Breakdown (4:50); The Ultimate Mission (2:51), Cruise on his love of the series; Storyboards, and the Theatrical Trailer (2:33).

In case you missed it, Aquaman opens December 21 and the early buzz is good. This will be his solo feature film, but he took front and center in 2015’s animated feature, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, loosely based on the story arc that ran in Justice League and Aquaman, back when Geoff Johns was writing both series.

We reviewed the release back then and found Heath Corson’s script adaptation to be lacking in heart, eschewing characterization over mindless action.

To capitalize on interest in the Sea King, Warner Home Entertainment has released a commemorative edition that includes the complete film and the original extras: Villains of the Deep (12:00), Scoring Atlantis: The Sound of the Deep (30:00), Robin and Nightwing Bonus Sequence (4:00), and the 2014 NY Comic-Con Panel (27:00). Rounding things out, DC Comics Vault (83 minutes) offers up four episodes: “Aquaman’s Outrageous Adventure!” and “Evil Under the Sea!” from Batman: The Brave and the Bold, “Menace of the Black Manta and The Rampaging Reptile-Man” from the 1967-70 Aquaman series, and “Far from Home” from Justice League Unlimited.

The film is out as a 4k Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD combo pack. The Blu-ray is virtually identical to the original release with one addition. The 4K transfer makes everything very crisp, capturing the colors nicely.

New to the release is Aquaman: The New King (15:00) where Corson and DC All Access host Hector Navarro gush about the hero. While they’re supported by voice actors Sam Witwer and Matt Lanter, it would have been nice for someone who actually worked on the comics to participate and help explain his place in the DC Universe. Apparently, the speakers were only familiar with more recent fare such as Peter David’s run and Alex Ross’ classic depictions.

Is it worth getting for 15 minutes of talking heads? Only if you don’t already own it and love all things under the sea.

It feels as if Mark Wahlberg is casting about for a franchise to call his own. The actor, who recently bailed on the remake of The Six Million Dollar Man, may have found it in his fourth outing with director Peter Berg, Mile 22.

This action-adventure film, out now from Universal Home Entertainment, introduces us to CIA operative James Silva (Mark Wahlberg). He’s been tasked by Overwatch leader John Malkovich with bringing an asset, police officer Li Noor (Iko Uwais), to the secret Mile 22 facility so they can extract the life-threatening secrets he holds about the whereabouts of several radioactive cesium isotope dirty bombs. With that thin, familiar set-up, he’s off and running and we’re breathless trying to keep up.

We travel to interesting locales (Colombia filling in for Indonesia), have one set piece after another, watching Jason Bourne/Ethan Hunt/James Silva avoid being blown up, shot, stabbed, or beaten to death. The action is decorated with all the latest surveillance tools and cybersecurity wizardry so it looks good.

Lauren Cohan plays Alice Kerr, Noor’s handler who was wounded prior to the film’s main story and is seen dealing with the after effects and repercussions. Her arc is surprisingly good and helps ground the film from floating away at warp speed. Her performance and Uwais’ make the film more enjoyable than it should be.

One has to credit Lea Carpenter, in her debut screenplay (doctored by Graham Roland) for providing us with the template for adrenaline-filled adventure with a likeable lead. If only he weren’t so cardboard – maybe next time.

The movie comes as a Blu-ray DVD, Digital HD multiscreen extravaganza and has a fine high definition resolution and audio track

The picture in its 2.39:1 aspect ratio and DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 sound quality on the Blu-Ray are solid as expected and the special features include interviews from the premiere on the red carpet with the cast, six behind the scenes featurettes along with soundbites and B-Roll.

The Blu-ray special features are as lightweight and forgettable as the film they support. These include: Overwatch (1:36), detailing the para-military division in Mile 22; Introducing Iko (1:48): shining the camera on international action star Iko Uwais; Iko Fight (1:47), more or less continues the previous piece focusing on his training and choreography; Bad Ass Women (1:44) has actors Lauren Cohan and Ronda Rousey and writer Lea Carpenter, celebrate female empowerment; BTS Stunts (1:56); Modern Combat (1:56) shows what goes into making one of these films, which requires multiple cameras and carefully planned cinematography to capture the death-defying stunts; and finally, Colombia (3:45), a travelogue of sorts.

Ever since Loggins and Messina tugged on our heartstrings with the wistful ‘70s ballad “House on Pooh Corner”, the notion of saying goodbye to childhood playmates has tinged A.A. Milne’s delightful Winnie the Pooh stories. It was seemingly inevitable that the song would be turned into a story, which more or less explains this summer’s Christopher Robin. The film, out now from Walt Disney Home Entertainment is incredibly predictable but still charming in its own way.

We have an adult Christopher (Ewan McGregor) who has married Evelyn (Hayley Atwell) and they have a daughter Madeline (Bronte Carmichael). However, the joy of childhood is gone in his life, replaced with drudgery, as he has become the London equivalent of the salaryman, working for a gray luggage company with inept management.

While the audience is shown that the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood gang – Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings), Owl (Toby Jones), Tigger (Jim, Cummings), Eeyore (Brad Garrett), Rabbit (Peter Capaldi), Kanga (Sophie Okonedo), and Roo (Sara Sheen) – are aware Christopher has grown and left them behind, they have no real sense of time.

Circumstances, though, allow Pooh to enter Christopher’s world and they have an awkward reunion, as at first, he’s delighted to see the “silly old bear” but has already given up his much-needed family vacation to find a plan to salvage the company or fire half the staff. Pooh becomes an impediment, as he has to bring the playmate back to the Wood.

Once home, we know he’s going to reconnect with his childhood, resolve the work issues, rekindle his family connections, and all will be well with the world. So, the question comes down to execution. The screenplay by Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy, and Allison Schroeder is serviceable but lacking in whimsy and charm so director Marc Foster does what he can. The CGI is a delight and the interaction of humans and animals works just fine.

Foster makes an interesting choice in having London and the Wood but darker, overgrown, and less than welcome, equating the two is odd when we’re expecting more of a contrast. They certainly stand out in sharp contrast to the visual humor and wide-eyed reactions when people meet the animal gang for the first time.

The film is entertaining enough but you wanted more than the expected. At least the high definition transfer, retaining the original 2:39:1 aspect ratio, nicely captures the tonal differences in location. It comes with a fine 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix as well.

The Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD multiscreen pack offers up some nice, not great, special features. We start with “A Movie is Made for Pooh,” (5:28) the standard behind-the-scenes featurette with cast and crew chatting it up; “Pooh and Friends Come to Life,” (3:16) Carmichael narrates this look at the 3-D CGI renderings required for the production; “Pooh Finds his Voice,” (2:43) Cummings gets the well-deserved spotlight and he nicely credits his  predecessor, the late Sterling Holloway;  and then we end with “Pooh and Walt Become Friends,” (2:43) which revisits Walt Disney’s introduction to Pooh via his daughter Diane, and what happened next.

For those who use the Digital HD at Movies Anywhere, you get an exclusive feature: “In Which…We Were Very Young” (3:51), which gives us insight to the real Christopher Robin.

There have been few films as edited, re-edited, and repackaged as Superman the Movie. It has been resurrected and represented to a few generations of fans for good reason. Prior to 1978, any attempt at a super-hero movie was usually done on the cheap and/or with tongue firmly in cheek.

The tag line, “You will believe a man can fly”, and the S-shield was all you needed to whet your appetite back then. The first pictures released to the media certainly got us interested but until you sat in the theater and heard John William’s opening march, you had no idea what you were getting.

And what we got was, arguably, the first super-hero film to treat the genre with dignity and respect. Visually, it was stunning, and you could not ask for a more pitch-perfect lead than Christopher Reeve. He was Curt Swan’s Man of Steel made flesh and the world conceived by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster rarely looked better.

Director Richard Donner had a falling out with producer Ilya Salkind and the Mario Puzo script was a challenging mess requiring rewriting by Robert Benton and David & Leslie Newman. Once Donner was fired and Richard Lester brought in to replace him, the film and its sequel, Superman II, suffered.

What endures and remains the measuring stick for all other heroic films is the first half from Krypton’s destruction through Superman’s first night in Metropolis. Once we meet Otis (Ned Beatty), the tone shifts to something lighter, a massive disconnect more jarring today than back then, when we were so eager for a good Superman movie that we forgave its flaws including its illogical mind-warping time travel denouement.

Much was cut from the theatrical version to fit a hefty running time of 0:00 so missing pieces were added when ABC first ran the film. Since then, various cuts have been released but now, Warner Home Entertainment has delivered a 4K release of that theatrical version (and it’ll be in movie theaters for three nights this season).

The scan was taken from the camera negative, color-corrected and upgraded for this release in a 4K, Blu-ray and Digital HD combo pack. The Blu-ray is the same from the 2011 Superman Anthology box set with extras from that and the original DVD release. The sole bonus on the 4K disc is the audio commentary.

So, is it worth the extra bucks? Visually, the 2160p, HEVC/H.265-encoded UHD transfer is lovely. Given the way special effects were shot back then, the Krypton scenes tend to have a lot of grain, which may mar your enjoyment of the early minutes. The new, sharper definition also means you see more of the flaws, the matting, and occasional cheap props or sets, which also may spoil the fun. On the other hand, the color correction keeps Superman’s uniform a consistent set of colors. Geoffrey Unsworth’s photography, especially the Kansas scenes, is gorgeous.

Superior, though, is the newly remixed Dolby Atmos track, which is accompanied by the more traditional Dolby Digital 5.1 track. We have an upgraded version of the original score without any of the 2000 additions from Donner.

The movie still stands tall and is a joy to watch once better but this edition is only for those with the most current audio and visual players.

I will admit that I skipped Teen Titans Go! since I was far beyond their target audience, I was happy to see a scaled down, entry-level animated series succeed so well on cable. It honored its Marv Wolfman/George Pérez roots and had a nice run. What I never expected was to see it make the leap to the big screen and succeed as well as it did.

Back in the spring, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies was among the least anticipated summer films by theater owners at Movie Con but then arrived to superlative reviews (91% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes) and stronger than anticipated box office with $51.8 million earned worldwide against a $10 million budget.

On the five season series, the young heroes were seen having ordinary every day adventures, focusing more on pizza than the Fearsome Five. One recurring theme seems to be that the adult heroes looked down on them as being far from ready. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, out on disc now from Warner Home Entertainment, goes meta as the kids worry about their shot at a feature film. They’re told they’re just too goofy to be taken seriously enough for a film so Robin (Scott Menville) leads the team  — Cyborg (Khary Payton), Beast Boy (Greg Cipes), Raven (Tara Strong), and Starfire (Hynden Walch) — to Hollywood to prove them all wrong. Hilarity ensures for the next 84 minutes.

Taking a cue more from 20^th Century Fox’s Deadpool than any heroic film Warner has released, the movie is a rapid-fire collection of wit, comical asides, and recurring gags including, yes, mistaking Deathstroke (called Slade here given the target audience) as Deadpool. Writers Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath clearly had a lot of fun with this and were well-served by director Aaron Horvath. For knowing adults in the room, you can appreciate that Superman is voiced by Nicholas Cage (fulfilling his dream). There is additional fine voice work from Will Arnett and the ubiquitous Kristen Bell. Nothing is sacred, notably the flawed DCEU films.

The transfer to Blu-ray is just fine, with strong visuals and audio. The simple style is deceptive and the colors pop here. Being a kids film, the special features appear more geared to them than the parents buying the disc. There’s a Lil Yachty Music Video (2:09) and three Sing-A-Long songs — Rap (1:56), Inspirational Song (2:41), My Super Hero Movie (2:23) — featuring Starfire’s pet Silkie, who was left out of the film proper. WB Lot Shenanigans (3:56) features costumed adults as the Titans making noise around the film studio. Red Carpet Mayhem (2:10) has some of the cast have fun at the premiere. We also have a DC Super Hero Girls Short: The Late Batsby (4:14). Interestingly, Teen Titans GO!: Translated (2:18) shows scenes translated for international audiences.  We have two Storyboard Animatics: Time Cycles (1:07) and The Final Battle (1:34). Finally, there’s a one-minute deleted scene.

The second wave of Batmania was ignited in 1989 when Tim Burton finally got a big screen adaptation of the comic book hero into theaters. It was such a wild success in terms of merchandising that Warner Bros wanted more and quickly. Since features take two to three years, they needed something sooner and the success of their Tiny Tunes and Animaniacs encouraged them to bring the Dark Knight back to television.

Thankfully, the project was placed in the hands of Alan Burnett, Bruce Timm, and Paul Dini who were not only fans of the character but the earliest cartoon fare. Taking a visual cue from Burton and a stylistic one from the Fleischer Brothers Studio, they produced a Batman cartoon unlike anything from the 1960s or 1970s. Batman the Animated Series was sampled on prime time in September 1992 before launching on Fox Kids and for three seasons, there was nothing quite like it.

The episodes have been collected before; including a beautiful DVD box set in 2008, but now, Warner Home Entertainment has remastered the files for high definition and gifted us with Batman: The Complete Animated Series. This lush 12-disc collection has not only every episode of the series but the two feature films – Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero — it spawned as well.

Not only did the series look grim and gritty, it was blessed with a Danny Elfman theme, further connecting it with the features. The stories were far from kiddie fare as the writing staff took the gruesome, tragic, and mentally deranged rogues and reinvented them for the small screen. This is where Mr. Freeze got an origin that made you feel for the scientist, and benefitted from the Mike Mignola redesign.

One of the series’ greatest strengths was in its voice casting, led by Kevin Conroy (Batman), Clive Revill and Efrem Zimbalist Jr (as Alfred), Melissa Gilbert (Batgirl), Brock Peters (Lucius Fox). The villains were led by Mark Hamill’s Joker, Richard Moll (Two-Face), Arleen Sorkin (Harley Quinn), Adrienne Barbeau (Catwoman), Paul Williams (The Penguin), Ron Perlman (Clayface), Ed Asner (Roland Daggett), and Roddy McDowall (The Mad Hatter). The show also paid tribute to the first era of Batmania with Adam West portraying The Gray Ghost.

Dini and Timm struck a nerve when they created Harley Quinn, designed as a one-off character but everyone fell in love with her, from the design to Sorkin’s voice. She has become DC’s answer to Deadpool in terms of ubiquity and is getting her own series on the DC Entertainment streaming service (although Sorkin is being replaced with Kaley Cuoco).

There was something for children, teens, and adults in every episode with visuals taken from the comics, stories adapted from the comics by scribes including Len Wein and Martin Pasko. It was such a well-crafted show that it earned multiple Emmy Awards and critical acclaim while the features, in lesser hands, crashed and burned.

The Blu-ray scans of the film negatives means we’re presented with the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio but the look is cleaner and clearer than ever before. This series was among the last to be predominantly hand animated and you can enjoy every frame. The video accompanying this review demonstrates the differences. The audio is offered as a 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless audio track and sounds tremendous.

The 12-discs are lovingly packaged with fine graphics and offer viewers the 109 episodes in production order, including the ones entitled The Adventures of Batman & Robin and The New Batman Adventures.  Most of the Special Features from previous editions are replicated here so you get commentary from Timm, Dini; writer Michael Reaves; directors Glen Murakami, James Ticker, and Dan Riba; and producers Eric Radomski, Boyd Kirkland, and Kevin Altieri. (Missing are the Timm intros from the 2008 box set but it’s a minor quibble.)

Shades of the Bat: Batman’s Animated Evolution is absent with the 22-minute featurette replaced with the three-part Heart of Batman, hosted by Dini. Reunited for the discussion are Dini, Timm, Radomski, Burnett, Fox’s Jean MacCurdy, now-retired voice director Andrea Romano and her finds, Conroy and Strong. Hamill’s is included via welcome archival footage.

The feature film discs are replicas of previous editions so some animated episodes are repeated as bonus features.

The Limited Edition box set also includes seven lenticular animation artwork cards, and a set of three Funko Pocket POPS figures: Batman, Joker, and Harley Quinn. There is also a Digital Copy code and initially, there was a problem with SD not High Def versions available and Warner has been working on the issue, promising an upgrade in the future.